This Blog will basically discuss economic issues, with some history and political events thrown in. The author is a mix of Conservative and Liberal impulses, with matching Authoritarian and Libertarian trends.

Thursday, March 04, 2010

The Medical Debate

I obtained this link from Marginal Revolution, which actually puts my Thoughts on medicine into economic context. I have long considered the medical profession as being the ‘Putz’ controlled by the pharma industry. Doctors suffer from two primary disabilities which decidedly affect their performance. The first is their constant desire to achieve greater success rates in their treatment of Patients. The second disability is their desire to maintain a uniformity of treatment amongst themselves; primarily to avoid malicious charges of malpractice, but also to uphold a level or Standard on which they can be adjudged. Corporate Boardrooms quickly recognized that control of the flow of information between Doctors could be a Profits-Enhancing enterprise. Big Pharma immediately started measures to ensure control of such information read by the medical profession.

Real Supporters of medical reform should acknowledge that there should be a federal Medical Board which should outline a program of minimum-cost medical treatments which Doctors could apply for the various medical conditions; it would help if the Doctors were granted freedom from malpractice liability if they maintained this level of medical treatment. This medical policy does not inhibit more advanced medical treatments which could be utilized on Those willing to pay for such advancement, but would provide alternate medical treatment for Those who would need some form of Public Option in health care. The Public Option could be extended to All, but with gradual withdrawal of benefits for medical treatments based on individual payments on a 1:1, 2:1, or 3:1 basis on added medical payments paid over the minimum standard. I give all 3 options in this because of the need for determination of the degree of strictness utilized in Government underwriting of health care; always considering the overall Cost to Taxpayers.

There is real need to establish a Public forum on health care, with a real Choice in the medical care system We would provide to all Citizens. The Reader should understand that the adoption of any element in the medical underwriting format will be almost impossible to supplant in the future, due to Voter reaction, Business opposition, and even Court refusals. We want to get this Right in the first try, and don’t want a great measure of the enactments to need recompilation. We are not able to adjust readily to any introduced formula, so We must ensure a major degree of certitude in what We attempt. Proscription D has proven a failure, as Consumers of Drugs pay as much as they ever did; big Pharma only getting additional benefit from the Government. We cannot continue on such a Profits-generating path, if We intend to somehow pay for our medical costs at the level of Government program. Decide Now if We want a paid medical system, or an impossibly bloated medical system which can be paid for by no one. lgl